With their noirish thriller, The Man Who Wasn't There, Joel and Ethan Coen are returning to their roots.

The brothers' first film Blood Simple remains an exceptional example of the kind of twisting revenge thriller popular in the 1940s.

It recalled classics such as The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity and was as equally clever and suspenseful as the films that inspired it.

As a homage to the crime thrillers of the '40s and to that decade itself, The Man Who Wasn't There has much to recommend it.

Shot in black and white, heavy on plot, character and dialogue and leisurely paced, The Man Who Wasn't There flies in the face of contemporary cinema.

It revels in detail from the furniture, costumes, music and sets to the performances themselves.

The Man Who Wasn't There is not really a whodunit. For the most part, the audience knows who does what and when. What's not as clear are the motives and that's what's meant to rivet one's attention.

Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a small town barber.

He's married to Doris (Frances McDormand), who's having an affair with her boss Big Dave (James Gandolfini).

Ed ignores or even accepts the affair until he sees an opportunity to use it to his advantage.

Ed has an offer to invest in a drycleaning business, but he needs $10,000, so he blackmails Big Dave.

It's a simple plan that goes horribly awry, resulting in murders, suicides and infatuations.

Thornton's minimalist acting is the film's greatest asset.

Ed really is a non-entity. He's an observer and a listener, but for all his quiet, studied ways, he's not very astute.

This is particularly evident in his evaluation of Birdy Abundas (Scarlett Jenkins), the teenager he believes is a virginal piano virtuoso.

If Ed can be so wrong about Birdy, it's no wonder he miscalculates how his little blackmail scheme will play itself out.

Thornton's speech is as precise as Ed's hairstyle and his face is a blank slate that only occasionally registers some of Ed's emotions.

It's an outstanding, beautifully nuanced, carefully delineated performance that could easily win Thornton an Oscar nomination.

McDormand, who the Coens showcased to an Oscar in Fargo, is strong in a weak role. So much time is spent fleshing out Ed's character, the supporting characters are skeletal by comparison.

Gandolfini has two great scenes in which he bullies Thornton, and Tony Shalhoub steals a few others as a hot-shot, big-city lawyer.

Roger Deakins' cinematography is stunning as are Dennis Gassner's sets and Mary Zophres' costumes.

Carter Burwell's music score does as much to evoke the '40s as the Coen brothers' screenplay.

The Man Who Wasn't There is a feast for the eyes and it teases the intellect, but it seems cold and strangely non-involving for a film so carefully and lovingly conceived and executed.

(This film is rated AA)

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